


Tearing Apart

by Anonymous



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Love Triangles, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 12:12:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5665675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things are what they are. Aomine-kun likes Kagami-kun. Kagami-kun likes him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tearing Apart

Once Kuroko notices, it's like lead settling inside his gut. A surge of bitterness so strong that it permeates everything, makes his post-training shake taste like bile. 

He isn't angry at Aomine, and maybe that's the worst of it. He is just... Upset. Uncomfortably sad and feeling like his skin is too tight around his bones and _why do this, Aomine-kun?_  
And then he feels guilty, because out of all the things Aomine is or could be, he's not intentionally cruel. Not like this. Not to him. If this is how Aomine feels, it must be genuine. And if he is this forward, he must simply... Not know the way Kuroko feels himself. And Kuroko can't fault him for that.

He pushes his half full cup away, condensation on the tips of his fingers and on the palm of his hand; Kuroko knows his hand would still be cold and clammy right now, even if he'd forgone the drink. 

"Hey, are you okay?"

He looks up at Kagami. There's worry in the softness of his eyes and the arch of his eyebrows, even while he picks apart a burger, getting crumbs all over himself.

Kuroko aches a little.

"I'm just tired, Kagami-kun. You should chew your food properly. It'd be inconvenient if you choked."

The jab's meant to distract him, but Kagami has, frustratingly enough, started to get a hang of Kuroko's MO, so he only glares at him as he takes his next bite and maintains eye contact as he chews down his mouthful and swallows. Then he gives him a short lived grin that's  
halfway between playful and what someone cruder, someone like Aomine, would call shit eating, and puts one of his wrapped up burgers on Kuroko's plate.

"You should eat more if we are going to keep up with that bastard Aomine. Next time he's going down."

His eyes light up as he probably envisions their next match, and Kuroko feels... Something. Something gut wrenching.

He just smiles in reply, something small and reserved, but enough to keep Kagami at bay.

They walk part of the way towards their respective homes together, and on the way, as Kagami goes on and about how exactly he is going to beat Aomine the next time around, Kuroko accepts the situation as it is and berates himself for having moments of selfishness and childishness.

Things are what they are. Aomine-kun likes Kagami-kun. Kagami-kun likes him back.  
Kagami ruffles his hair as he bids him goodnight before they part ways.

Kuroko lets himself watch the other boy go, allows himself a little longing.

Kagami’s back looks powerful and strong and all of him looks all encompassing against the sun setting, and Kuroko feels himself smile in spite of himself, determination building inside him, slow but sure.

 

So he's not okay, right now. But he'll be. 

And they will, too.

 

Kuroko is running late. It's setting him on edge.

"Oi, Kagami. What's holding Tetsu up?"

Kagami scowls at Aomine, out of habit more than actual annoyance.

"He says it's library committee stuff," he grumbles as he thumbs up a reply.

Aomine snorts.

"What a nerd."

Kagami looks up from his phone, an angry retort on the tip of his tongue, but then he notices how fond Aomine looks as he ties up his shoelaces. Lips curled into a lazy smile, the lines between his brows smoothed out, eyes soft.

It makes him burn up in an entirely different way.

"Shut up," he mumbles, because some kind of reply is expected from him, but it lacks heat.

_Enjoy your match, Kagami-kun. See you tomorrow._

He frowns at the text, thinks up about ten different replies urging Kuroko to just come once he's done, that they'll wait for him, but then he gets a hold of himself and swears under his breath, embarrassed at how needy he would seem if he sent any of those.

"So what? He's coming after bonding with the other bookworms?" For all Aomine always tries to sound disinterested, Kagami can hear the impatience in his words as loud and clear as if he was screaming it into his ear.

"He isn't coming."

"Ah."

They both sound disappointed.

There's silence for a moment or two, until Kagami sighs and says, "I am still gonna beat you."

Aomine raises up to the challenge, then, bad mouthing him as they jog to the court. Aomine dribbling a ball lazily, the _thud thud thud_ of it hitting the pavement overwhelming. 

If they wrap up earlier than they generally do, neither of them chooses to comment on it.

And if Kagami catches Aomine typing up a text to Kuroko as they towel off, he doesn't think it's any of his business. Even when Aomine's phone pings with a reply, almost instantaneous, and it makes Aomine light up like a child.

It's uncomfortable, like an itch he can't scratch, but it's still none of his business. Kuroko is free to talk with whomever he wants, be friends with whomever he wants, even if whatever he tells Aomine (Aomine his past light, the guy he went through tremendous lengths and overcame all sorts of obstacles to make smile again, to make happy again; Aomine the guy he went to when he needed to help with his shooting technique instead of asking him) makes the guy smile like a fool.

It’s cool. 

Aomine leaves with a lazy ‘later’ and a half-assed wave.  
Kagami doesn’t mean to wait till Aomine’s back has disappeared from view to text Kuroko and maybe hint at meeting up, maybe going to Maji, or maybe hanging at Kagami’s. 

He doesn’t mean to scuff his sneaker against the pavement and bounce his leg up till his phone chimes with a reply.

He doesn’t mean to frown at the display when he gets a polite dismissal.

He doesn’t mean to worry that maybe Aomine convinced Kuroko to hang out first.

He doesn’t mean to. But he does.

 

Kuroko starts behaving weirdly with him. Kagami can’t point at exactly what is weird in their interactions, but something is and it makes him frustrated and angry at himself for not being able to let it go, and for not being forward enough to just ASK what’s wrong. Being enough of a coward that he lets whatever unsaid shit there is fester between them.

And it does. It makes this divide between them that wasn’t before. Kagami knows that it isn’t overt, and that he might be exaggerating, but he can feel, he can basically see there being limits in their friendship that there weren’t before. Things that Kagami hadn’t even noticed they did before that they just don’t do anymore.

He catches himself trying to feed Kuroko some tamagoyaki from his bento (because Kuroko has this thing with eggs, and he always liked Kagami’s and- and it just felt good to see Kuroko enjoying his food, okay?), and where Kuroko would’ve leaned into the chopsticks and taken the offered food with his trademark graciousness before (and Kagami only notices that right then and there, how often this whole feeding Kuroko business happened in the past), he now just gives Kagami a curt nod of polite rejection before telling him he’s had enough to eat.

It’s like a slap. 

And it just keeps happening: these little gestures he never noticed before keep getting politely but firmly rejected. 

He feels like Kuroko is shutting him out, somehow. 

And it fucking sucks.


End file.
